Morrissey, MEN Arena, Manchester, review

Morrissey the solo artist, playing a homecoming show at MEN Arena in
Manchester, again struggles in the shadow of The Smiths, writes Rob Hughes.

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Morrissey is known for being outspokenPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

By Rob Hughes

12:17PM BST 30 Jul 2012

"Who is Morrissey?" posed the comedy speech bubble overlaid onto Oscar Wilde’s portrait on the giant video screen. On the evidence of tonight’s show, it’s hard to say with any certainty. There was Morrissey the Wildean wit, tossing barbs at his usual targets of British institutionalism. "You may have noticed I wasn’t invited to the Olympics Opening Ceremony," he offered at one point, no doubt spurred on by those mirthless TV shots of the Queen during Friday’s extravaganza. "This was because my smile was thought to be too sincere." There were further jibes at "the moronic" Diamond Jubilee and Manchester Council, who, inexplicably in his opinion, haven’t yet offered him the keys to the city.

It was all fabulously entertaining stuff, of course, the kind of high theatre Moz-watchers lap up with relish. But there was also Morrissey the solo artist, forever struggling with the weight of his legend at the centre of The Smiths. Tonight’s sell-out homecoming show didn’t exactly make the strongest case for the former. None of a trio of as-yet-unreleased new songs (Scandinavia; Action Is My Middle Name; People Are The Same Everywhere) really caught fire, while the inclusion of lesser works like Maladjusted and Black Cloud only served to accentuate the power of certain others. Ouija Board, Ouija Board, for instance, was delivered like some tortured teen idol, Morrissey ramping up the melodrama like a latter-day Johnnie Ray, even falling to his knees at the finish. While the barnstorming When Last I Spoke To Carol felt like an evil soundtrack to a mariachi remake of Bonanza.

It was The Smiths moments though, and there were a fair few of them, that appeared to be invested with the most passion. The sheer physicality of How Soon Is Now? transformed the song into what felt like a booming techno anthem. I Know It's Over and Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want had the Morrissey clones at stage front lifting their arms to the sky like it was just all too much. An encore of Still Ill, with Morrissey’s five-piece band on killer form, led by guitarists Jesse Tobias and Boz Boorer (in drag tonight, curiously, and introduced as Gaynor Tension), was genuinely thrilling.

But what of Morrissey the artist? In 2009 he told one interviewer that he couldn’t envisage himself gigging past the age of 55. He’s two years off that now and, with the imminent arrival of his autobiography, a final farewell may be upon us sooner rather than later. Let’s hope he was only kidding. Tonight was good, but you still get the feeling he’s capable of so much more.